In the distance, there was a faint sound of cannons coming. After passing through dozens of nautical miles, it was almost as faint as thunder. This is the 56.1 Battle Patrol, the 56.2 Heavy Patrol and the 56.8 Destroyer Team were shelling the New Asbanian Navy's Fortress in the Valparaiso Gulf Valparaiso was originally the headquarters of the Chilean Navy and the home port of the fleet. Now the Chilean Navy has been adapted into the Pacific Fleet of the New Asbanian Navy, and Valparaiso naturally belongs to the Pacific Fleet Command and home port.

However, the new Asbanian Navy Pacific Fleet in Valparaiso Port had already run away before the US Navy arrived. Even the merchant ships and fishing boats were left inside, leaving only an empty harbor to shell the US fleet.

The batteries of the New Asbanian Navy in Valparaiso Gulf are also very old antiques. Although several 170mm caliber k18 cannons purchased from Europe were installed, how can this level of cannon be used to deal with the American "Alaska" class battlecruiser (leader cruiser)? The latter has a 305mm (12-inch) main gun that can completely destroy the old coastal turret without any effort.

After the destruction of the New Asbanian Navy's fortress, it was the turn of the landing formation of the 56th Special Mixed Fleet to take the field.

Although it cannot be compared with the previous fleet that counterattacked the Hawaiian Islands, the landing formation of the 56th Special Mixed Fleet is still very large, with hundreds of landing ships, a large number of minesweepers, escort destroyers, nearshore fire support ships (modified from landing ships) and various work ships (mostly modified from flat deck destroyers). On the dark sea, it was like a floating city, slowly approaching the Bay of Valparaiso, illuminated by waves of artillery fire. At 3 a.m. on August 10, 1944, the landing formation commanded by Lieutenant General Turner arrived at the attack starting line on time. The entire fleet began to hover and re-arrange the formation. The well-trained and baptized by the war in the Hawaiian Islands, under the command of officers, was skilled in preparing for landing operations one by one.

The tunnel was opened by small minesweepers, nearshore fire support ships and light escort destroyers protected landing ships of all sizes to drive towards shallow water. Occasionally, water columns would rise on the sea surface and loud noises came. This was the mines laid by the New Asbanian Navy that were exploding! Some were detonated by American minesweepers, while others happened to encounter landing ships or small ships near the beach, causing casualties.

However, compared with the huge scale of the US landing fleet, this loss is really insignificant!

If this is the entire loss caused by the New Asbanian Navy to the U.S. landing formation, then there is no doubt that the landing operation has been successful.

However, the US fleet on the sea still dared not be careless because the US Navy knew that the Germans had deployed submarines in the Port of Valparaiso, and it was a new type of submarine that was difficult to deal with!

In the past 6 and 7 months, the number of merchant ships and warships sunk by submarines in the Atlantic and Caribbean Seas suddenly began to rise sharply! The number of German submarines sunk greatly decreased, which shows that the Germans invested in a powerful new submarine.

Many escort destroyers carefully guarded the landing ships and fired a bunch of hedgehog bombs into the sea from time to time, and the calm sea water seemed to be boiling.

Lieutenant General Turner and Major General Alexander Archer Van der Grift, commander of the 1st Marine Division, were riding on the battlecruiser "Hawaii" with a telescope holding a telescope watching the landing.

Both of them were in their throats. They had both fought the bloody battle of Niho Island, as if everything was as peaceful as it was when the landing in Niho Island began.

But later... it was beaten into a sea of ​​corpses and blood.

At this time, many officers and soldiers of the 1st Marine Division of the United States were fully equipped and boarded the landing ship. On the landing craft, holding their breath and concentrating, waiting for the ship to rush to the beach, countless deadly ammunition came from the hidden places on the beach!

But when the bottom of the landing craft really hit the beach and the moment the cabin door was put down, the beach in Valparaiso was still quiet, and the bullets that were imagined to be denser than raindrops did not appear. There was no sporadic firepower!

"No...no one defended?" Major General Van der Grift seemed to be stunned by this scene, and he was stunned for a long time before he spoke a sentence.

Lieutenant General Turner saw the red signal flares symbolizing the success of landing rising everywhere on the beach, and also breathed: "It seems that no one really defends it! It seems that we overestimate the Chileans, and they lack the courage to fight... Valparaiso will soon be ours, and then Santiago!"

...

"The war report on the Chilean front has been heard. The US military used the dim sky cover to land on the beach in the early morning of the 10th, and successfully landed on the unguarded Valparaiso Beach. The port of Valparaiso was also occupied by the US military on the morning of the 10th..." Major General Stauffenberg, who had just been promoted to chief combat officer of the General Staff, was frowning and talking to Hesmann, who was looking at the map in the combat room.

Give up Valparaiso, a decision made by the General Staff a few days ago, cannot be kept there anyway! Moreover, in the opinion of several marshals and generals, it is not a bad thing to put more US troops on the shore... Only by letting them get ashore, the 10th, 11th and 12th Task Forces (all of which belong to the 1st Fleet) from Beren can get the chance to fight to the decisive battle.

However, Major General Stauffenberg was still a little worried, not because he was worried that the three European Union Fleet's task force could not beat the battle. This was the Navy's business, so he, an army major general, didn't have to worry about it.

But whether Juan Peron's throne under his butt thinks that the fall of Valparaiso and Santiago is a problem that needs to be carefully studied in the combat situation of the General Staff.

Since the United States will soon deploy B-17 and P51 there once it gains a foothold in Valparaiso, Buenos Aires will be bombed... It is very likely that Juan Peron will be bombed!

"Buenos Aires will definitely get bombed!" Hessman suddenly spoke, "Develop an air defense combat plan, mobilize enough 127mm anti-aircraft guns, 190 and he219 to Buenos Aires... Being bombed is not a problem, the question is how many American aircraft can be fired?"

Now Germany's 127mm anti-aircraft gun has radio near-fighting fuze and radar fire control system, while the 190's BD series are all high-altitude models and have strong interception capabilities. The He219 is a very excellent night fighter and also has fierce firepower. Although it did not dispatch the most powerful me264, the 127mm anti-aircraft gun, the 190 and the He219 are enough for American bombers to bear.

Major General Stauffenberg asked: "Marshal of the Imperial Empire, do you want to use Buenos Aires to consume American bombers?"

"This is not the whole purpose!" Hessman said lightly, "When formulating air defense combat plans, there are also plans to send several mountain divisions to the Andes... In addition, let the SS people go to New Asbania to recruit volunteers." He looked at Stauffenberg, "Klaus, do you understand what I mean?"

Stauffenberg was an adjutant for Hessman, so how could he not understand?

"Marson of the Imperial Empire, do you want to take the opportunity to get our army to Argentina and then stay and stop leaving?"

Hessman laughed: "This is the second purpose!"

"That third purpose," Stauffenberg asked, "it should be to use the U.S. troops stationed in Chile as hostages to force the US Pacific Fleet to fight against our 10th, 11th and 12th Task Forces in the waters near Chile, right?"

Hessman nodded and said, "It is better to be able to fight in the Pacific than to fight in the Caribbean Sea. The battle situation is now planned to move into Port Monte (Port in Southern Chile). First, transfer the paratroopers to the next level, the faster the better. In addition, deploy at least a few squadrons of 190a/dg to Port Monte Airport."

"As for orders, Marshal of the Empire!"

...

"Mr. President, we have taken Valparaiso!"

The White House, United States. On the afternoon of August 10, Admiral Ernest King brought Roosevelt a long-lost good news.

“Thank God!”

President Roosevelt in the cabinet meeting room breathed a sigh of relief, "We finally caught the German off guard!"

"Mr. President," Admiral William Lech also seemed very excited. "I think the turning point of this world war has finally arrived because we have just captured an important stronghold that the Germans must regain! And the Germans cannot cross the Andes to launch a counterattack. They can only bypass the South American continent from the sea, which is very beneficial to us."

Not to mention the Andes in 1944, even if it is a difficult barrier to pass through decades, there will be a difficult barrier there. As long as a small number of troops guard several important passes, the Germans' heavy troops will not reach Chile on the Pacific coast. The United States can take the opportunity to transport one or several heavy divisions to Chile, so that the Germans can only fight back by sea if they do not want their friends Argentina to be bombed every day!

"If the German fleet really drove into the Pacific Ocean," Roosevelt's brow frowned slightly again, "Are we sure to defeat them?"

"No!" Admiral Ernest King replied, "Europe's aviation technology is ahead of us, and it also has powerful remote-controlled missiles."

"Then...what is the point of us leading them to the Southeast Pacific?" asked Roosevelt.
Chapter completed!